In-situ combustion (ISC) has the potential to be an economical thermal oil recovery process for heavy oil and oil sand deposits. The in-place fuel burned to generate heat in ISC is the least valuable portion of the oil. Moreover, ISC is not compromised by wellbore or overburden and underburden heat losses, and can potentially compete favourably with steam processes such as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) for application to thin reservoirs.
Examples of ISC processes include those disclosed in: “Experimental and Numerical Simulations of a Novel Top Down In-Situ Combustion Process”, Coates, R., Lorimer, S., Ivory, J., Society of Petroleum Engineers, SPE 30295, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,230 (Ostapovich et al); U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,315 (Kisman et al); U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,191 (Greaves et al); U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,966 (Ayasse et al); U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,557 (Ayasse et al); PCT International Publication No. WO 2005/121504 A1 (Ayasse); PCT International Publication No. WO 2006/074555 A1 (Chhina et al); PCT International Publication No. WO 2007/095763 A1 (Ayasse); and PCT International Publication No. WO 2007/095764 A1 (Ayasse).